Credential in Orientation & Mobility Why Orientation & Mobility?

Why Orientation and Mobility?

     The Clinical Rehabilitative Services Credential: Orientation & Mobility prepares specialists to provide instruction in independent movement and travel skills in home, school and community settings for school-aged students visual impairments. This one-year program is highly intensive and incorporates extensive hands-on training and fieldwork experiences with coursework in visual impairment, theory and effective teaching practices. *The Clinical Rehabilitative Services Credential in Orientation & Mobility is required to teach school-aged children in California. All students in this credential program are dually enrolled in the MA degree program in Special Education, Option in Orientation & Mobility.

    As a graduate of this credential program, you will be skilled to teach students about technology, to incorporate educational technology into your teaching, to conduct professional development, to select, evaluate and modify instructional software, to review and recommend hardware, and to create multimedia, hypermedia, websites, videos, and e-learning delivery. Successful graduates of this credential (and M.A.) program may find work as an Orientation & Mobility Specialist with a variety of employers, includiong: 

  • *Public, private and residential schools, serving infants, children and youth who are blind or visually impaired.
  • Private agencies serving adults who are blind or visually impaired
  • Veteran’s Administration Hospitals with Blind Rehabilitation Centers or Low Vision Outpatient Centers serving veterans who are blind or visually impaired
  • State rehabilitation agencies, state commissions for the blind, and state rehabilitation agencies and centers providing services for individuals who are blind or visually impaired
  • Regional centers or state departments of developmental services for individuals who have developmental disabilities including blindness.

Program Outcomes:
Students will: 

  • Develop an understanding of current issues, practices and directions in curriculum in Orientation & Mobility.
  • Develop knowledge and skills in educational research; develop analysis and reflection skills and written and oral communication.
  • Identify and analyze topics of importance in current educational conversations and debates for critical issues related to Orientation & Mobility.
  • Commit to their students’ learning of Orientation & Mobility concepts, skills and techniques.
  • Effectively assess current Orientation & Mobility skills and develop appropriate individualized instructional plans.
  • Augment their capacity to think reflectively about their teaching in Orientation & Mobility and to adapt their instructional methods and strategies as a result.
  • Increase their capacity to become an agent of change in the field of Orientation & Mobility.

Clinical Rehabilitative Services Credential: Orientation & Mobility